


My Name is Winter

by treewishes



Category: Shadow Campaign - Django Wexler
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 06:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2802635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treewishes/pseuds/treewishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Feor helps Winter accept her <i>naath</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Name is Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pollyrepeat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollyrepeat/gifts).



Lieutenant Winter Ihernglass made her way from the docks to the camp in the late afternoon. She walked determinedly through the lengthening shadows, trying to look more confident than she felt. It had been two weeks since the brutal skirmish in the desert cavern, and even though she had been in a healing sleep for twelve of those days, she was still feeling raw, more unsettled than not. 

Her broken ribs were tightly wrapped, but she couldn't escape their ache. Deeper than that was an alien thing, a _naath_ that curled around her bones, a _thing_ she could barely acknowledge. 

She stopped short as a ranker led a team of cart horses across her path. She looked up to take in the steady to and fro of activity on the dock, the rhythm of stacking and sorting in preparation for the sea voyage. The earnest faces of the young men, eager to return to Vordan, helped to settle her thoughts. Even though the First Colonial Infantry was a good deal smaller than it had been a few months ago, it would still take another week to assemble of the equipment, artillery, food, water, and horses needed to support the Regiment. 

She was heartened to see they were nearly ready to start packing it all into the boats. Winter didn't envy Carter from the Sixth Company, now tasked with assigning quarters and making duty rosters for both the Sixth and the Seventh. While the total in both companies added to less than a hundred, it would still be a challenge to integrate the men into one unit. She left the docks and entered the camp, walking past too many empty slots, and remembering some of the brave men who had given their all.

She found Bobby in front of her old tent drafting reports. It was no longer hers, as all of her things were now in Colonel Vhalnich's camp, packed up and waiting to be hauled to the ship.

Bobby popped to her feet as she arrived. "Sir!" 

"Good afternoon, Bobby," she began, and it was only a moment before Folsom and Graff joined them. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you as well, Corporals. It has been a long recovery."

Graff shook his head. "We weren't worried," he said, but their faces belied his words. 

"Well. I have to say I was, for a time. But all is well now. Tell me, how are the men?" They immediately recounted their recent taskers and Winter got the clear sense that things were well on their way back to normal. 

At a pause in the discussion, Bobby asked, "Shall I send for your baggage, sir?" 

"No," she held up a hand. "Sorry to say I won't be making the journey with you. I'll be leaving tomorrow on the Colonel's fastest boat. He wants to get back as quickly as possible and has asked Captain D'Ivoire and me to accompany him."

She couldn't look at their faces. "Senior Sergeant Carter is eager to have your help," she assured them. "I don't know how things will go when we return to the City, but I have requested that you be assigned to my unit if at all possible. The Colonel has agreed."

"Thank you, sir," Graff and Bobby said, together. Folsom nodded. 

As she made to leave, she motioned Bobby to join her. She dropped her voice and asked, "Is Feor here? I heard she had recovered, and I wanted --"

"Yes," Bobby nodded. "She is back to herself, and I'm sure she would appreciate seeing you." She glanced back at Graff and Folsom. "I'll take you."

She led Winter on a convoluted path to a broken water wagon, clevely tucked behind two large tents.

Bobby knocked softly on the steps and motioned her to climb in. "I have to get back." 

Winter clasped Bobby's shoulder briefly. "Thank you, Bobby. I'll see you soon. Take care." 

Bobby nodded. "I'll be fine," she smiled, looking for a brief moment like the young girl she was. 

"I know you will," Winter said, wondering if there was anything in the world that could hurt Bobby and her _naath_.

It was dim inside the wagon, lit only by a tiny lamp. Feor's face cleared as she recognized her. "Winter! It is so good to see you." She stood, carefully, and Winter was gratified to see the Khandarai girl was whole and well. "Come, please sit."

"Thank you," she said, dropping to sit on the bedroll that she suspected had been hers at one time. 

Feor reached a hand toward hers. She drew back, afraid to touch. She could feel the _naath_ pulling away, rejecting the contact. 

"I can't... it doesn't want to. The Colonel calls it the Infernivore," she pointed vaguely at her middle. "He says it is the most fearsome of all of the names." She swallowed. "He has promised to protect me, but it's only because he doesn't want it falling into the wrong hands. I think I'm more afraid of it than he is."

Feor laughed. "Afraid? You have seen how powerful it is, I know you have. But you must realize you are not in danger, not from yours or any other _naath_." 

"Perhaps not." It was clearly powerful, but Winter's imagination wasn't helping. "Feor, what if a powerful priest threatened me, or--," she winced, "--threatened someone I cared about. Would I use this power to kill? Or even worse, could the demon take over, and I would have no control at all?" She shook her head, remembering Jen Alhundt's crumpled body. "I don't trust it."

"I see. You don't understand. Let me help you. Here, take my hands." When Winter hesitated, Feor leaned further in. "Take them, it will be fine." Winter steeled herself and reach out, immediately feeling the _naath_ react. 

"Let us breathe together." Winter nodded, gripping Feor's hands even though the _naath_ roiled inside her. She met Feor's eyes and took a slow breath, matching Feor's chest as it rose and fell. 

"Your name is Winter. Try to think of your _naath_ as summer." 

Summer was it? Winter could feel it then, hot inside her. Feor went on. "It is your opposite. Your _naath_ is of the desert, but you, you are borne of cold days, with damp air and pale light. She is opposite, made of hot wind under a fiery sun." Feor pulled them closer. "But together you are one. You must let the _naath_ warm you, and you will then cool her fire."

Winter leaned back onto the bedroll, and Feor leaned down with her. This seemed to calm Winter's _naath_ and she began to relax. Feor placed her hand against Winter's heart, and moved it down her belly to center on where it felt like the _naath_ lived.

"Yes," Feor murmured. "Tell her. Tell her you understand. That you are together. That you are on the same side. You must accept her, and love her." 

Winter tried to accept it, to reach out to her _naath_ , but she failed, feeling something inside her rebel. She couldn't do this. It wasn't human, but she couldn't reach it like she could with a horse or a falcon. It was more intelligent than those simple creatures, and still she couldn't understand what it wanted. She could feel the panic rising.

Feor pressed closer. "She is always trying to protect you. You must let her." Feor met her eyes, and their _naaths_ merged, writhing against one another. Winter couldn't escape the panic, but she could feel how Feor kept control. Breathing steadily, eyes locked, together they pushed the panic away. 

They embraced fully, bodies wound together, her leg between Feor's and her hand twisted in her long, dark hair. And finally, finally, Winter felt something in her unravel, let go, something that was wound too tight was loosened. 

"I can breathe," she whispered, and what she had thought was a broken rib had been something else, something out of place inside that was now made right. The pain had disappeared.

Slowly, she could feel the alignment, the _naath_ settling more comfortably within her. She knew it. It knew her. It saw only good and bad, with very little grey. Winter would have to help with that. 

Feor smiled. "You can hear her, can't you? She will listen to you now." 

"I do hear her," she said, wondering. "How did I think she was evil?"

"She cannot be evil, because you are not evil. She is different inside you than she would be in another person. You are together now."

She felt them pulse, she and Feor, their _naaths_ flowing in and out of them. She gasped with the power of it. She clutched at Feor, holding her close as their bodies calmed, sweat cooling on their skin. She buried her face in Feor's shoulder.

\---+++---

She strode to the dock in the gathering dark. There was a flame flickering near the shore, and men laughing as they shared a bottle. She could hear the hope in their voices, the knowledge they would live another day.

Winter had never thought much about the future. Joining the army wasn't something you did if you wanted to die of old age. But for now, it seemed a new warmth had been kindled in her soul.

She squared her shoulders. They would be in Vordan in three days.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is less a missing scene and more one that I thought should have happened! I love these books, and Winter is just such a great character. Thanks so much for requesting!


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